Is the iPhone 5’s Larger Screen a Challenge for Developers?

We started covering this topic last week in our article: App Developers Prepare for the iPhone 5. While Android phones come in a variety of sizes, it’s not quite as easy to update iOS apps for the Apple screen since no one has the device yet.

Since Apple announced that the newest iPhone will have a 4 inch display, developers began brainstorming about how they can utilize this screen real estate. While native apps will be updated automatically to fill in the space, other apps will be resized with black borders on either side.

Black borders around apps doesn’t sound appealing to most so developers have been working none stop to ensure that their apps look top-notch on the bigger screen. Most developers say that scaling the app isn’t a huge problem, but updating the app will be a whole new ballgame.

What makes it so challenging is that developers haven’t been able to test the apps on the new iPhone since it hasn’t been released. Porting, testing and submitting must be done in two weeks, which is a challenge for many developers.

Some developers won’t have a problem, while others may have to redesign the app. This is definitely the case for game developers who will need to spend the most amount of time ensuring that everything looks great. It’s safe to say that the most popular games will be updated within the next few months, but there are some devs who simply won’t bother reworking titles for games and apps that just aren’t that profitable. Others simply are waiting to get their hands on the device first.

There’s still the mysterious issue of running new apps on older iPhones. The only reasonable solution that we have determined is that the apps will have two possible resolutions. This could result in fragmentation.

What do you think about this issue? Do iPhone devs have it easier than their Android friends? Leave a comment below and let us know what you think.